2023: Ensure free elections, Biden tells African leaders

United States President Joe Biden met with the leaders of African countries holding elections in the new year on Wednesday to advocate for free and fair elections.InformationGuideNigeria

As part of his democratization drive, Biden and his top advisers met privately with a group of six African leaders on the sidelines of a summit that had brought the majority of African leaders to Washington.

The group included Nigerian President Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), who is ineligible to run for a third term as Africa’s most populous country in February, and President Felix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, who took office in 2019 in the vast country’s first peaceful transfer of power.

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According to the White House, other participants included Gabon’s Ali Bongo Ondimba, who has been president since 2009 after replacing his longstanding ruler father, as well as the leaders of Liberia, Madagascar, and Sierra Leone.NYSC Portal

Biden’s national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, stated ahead of the meeting that the president will push for free elections across the continent.

He said the participation of the leaders did not necessarily indicate the United States had concerns with each country.

“We would like to do everything we can to support those elections being free, fair, and credible,” Sullivan, who took part in the meeting, told reporters on Monday.

“And that goes for every election taking place in 2023, not picking and choosing certain ones and setting other ones aside.”

The US has praised Tshisekedi for agreeing to hold elections as planned in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where previous elections have been disrupted by unrest.JAMB Portal

In September, the United States increased its support for the DR Congo election by $13 million, including cash for local and foreign observers.

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